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Terrell Everett may be a familiar name to college basketball fans, and he will likely become a familiar name to D-League fans this season as well. A big point guard with nice athleticism, good court vision and excellent overall talent, Everett is back in the States after spending the last two seasons primarily in France, where he was mostly up and down but always showed excellent sparks of potential. Everett is still an average perimeter shooter and decision maker, two of the things hell need to work on the most to draw NBA interest this upcoming season. Showing leadership skills and maturity both on and off the floor will be imperative.

Already considered a very intriguing NBA prospect coming out of high school, Everett shot himself in the foot a bit by pleading no-contest to a Marijuana charge just before the pre-draft process started. He was blackballed from the pre-draft camp, and struggled to get any serious looks before heading to Europe.

Everett did a pretty good job making people forget about the mistakes he made in the past by putting up one of the most impressive rookie seasons in all of Europe, averaging 12 points, 5 rebounds and 5 assists for the 3rd best team in ProA France. Everett is a big natural point guard with great instincts directing a team and finding the open man. Hes athletic enough to create his own shot, and will at times explode for the type of scoring outburst that makes you wonder just how much upside he has left in him. Hes not a great shooter and still has work to do on his overall decision making and leadership skills, but it probably wouldnt shock anyone to see him make an NBA roster fairly soon. He has that kind of talent, and from what we were told by his agent Noah Croom, would sign for the minimum if the contract was fully guaranteed. Hell be playing for Phoenixs summer league team in Las Vegas next week.

Strengths Everett has terrific size for an NBA point guard at 6-4, to go along with a good wingspan and very smooth athletic ability. The fact that he is left handed makes him that much more interesting and difficult to defend. Like many lefties, he has a unique style to his game that isnt easy to find at the NCAA level.

Despite being recruited to play the shooting guard position at Oklahoma, Everett has the instincts of a pure point guard. He is capable of making everyone around him better thanks to his terrific passing skills. Everett possesses superb court vision and uses his size extensively to see the entire floor and exploit openings in the defense as they happen. He often makes very tough passes look easy by threading the needle and creating opportunities for teammates out of absolutely nothing. While he can be very flashy at times, he also doesnt have a problem making fundamental bounce passes or lobs into the post to feed his big guys with entry passes. In transition is where he particularly excels, either being able to finish plays by himself with his length and athleticism or set up a teammate for an easy basket, often in spectacular fashion. He has very good speed in the open floor and absolutely loves to push the tempo, especially when he has the horses to run with him.

Offensively, Everett has the ability to create his own shot thanks to a nice first step. He has a solid mid-range game, being able to put the ball on the floor and either find the open man on the drive and dish or elevate off the dribble with a high arching lefty release. His shot mechanics look decent and he has inconsistent range out to the NCAA three point line when he has time to set his feet. He can get to the rack and score as well, showing solid toughness taking contact and finishing around the hoop.

Defensively, Everett is very solid thanks to his quick feet and long arms. Oklahoma is one of the best defensive teams in the country, and Everett has a lot to do with that. He has good hands and likes to get into the passing lanes to ignite fast-breaks.

WeaknessesEverett is still a raw player in many facets of the game. He was a shooting guard in Junior College, and therefore despite looking like a very natural point guard at times, his inexperience at the position often comes out at crucial moments. He is not a natural leader who will direct his teammates on the floor and be a vocal player in his teams offense. If his teammates dont pass him the ball he wont really ask for it, despite the fact that his college team only goes as far as he takes them and pretty much everyone knows that.

His ball-handling is good enough at the college level, but will have to improve dramatically to make it in the NBA against the type of tough and physical pressure defenders that many teams have at the guard position. He dribbles the ball too high and makes too many unforced errors, being very careless with the ball and suffering from mental lapses that can drive his coach and fans up the wall. Everett is extremely turnover prone with over 4 lost possessions per game, as opposed to his 6.3 assists per contest.

Like many flashy passers, he has a tendency to force the issue at times, trying to do too much with the ball in his hand, over-dribbling, getting ahead of himself, and generally showing raw and often head scratching decision making skills. He seems to have problems handling intense ball-pressure and is not really a cool and calm customer when defenses collapse on him.

Everett is inconsistent not just from game to game, but also from minute to minute at times, being able to explode offensively for an unbelievable stretch looking like a mini-Jason Kidd, and then getting extremely passive and tentative to the point that he downright hurts his team. He gets down on himself when things are really going his way, thinking too much about everything he does, fluctuating between passing up wide-open shots and displaying poor shot selection.

Everett is not a particularly prolific scorer, only averaging 12 points a game on a team that admittedly likes to slow down the tempo and grind it out. He lacks range on his jump shot, shooting only 41% from the field on the year and a mediocre 31% from behind the arc. He can hit the three when he is open (or even sometimes when hes not), but he settles for it too much when stepping in a foot or two to his more natural range would serve him much better. Part of this has to do with the fact that his release is not very quick, something hell definitely have to work on at the next level.

Late in the season Everett pleaded no contest to a Marijuana possession charge, which certainly raised some eyebrows.

CompetitionEverett was a fairly highly regarded player in high school who did not have the grades or test scores initially to qualify for Division 1 basketball. Therefore the South Carolina native instead signed on to play at Southwest Missouri State University-West Plains, a Junior College. He was named a second team JUCO All-American. Everett was mostly considered a swingman before signing on with the Sooners, but soon began to show his point guard skills until eventually replacing erratic 5-7 former McDonalds All-American Drew Lavender as OUs starting point, a move that improved the Sooners tremendously. Lavender transferred to Xavier over the summer and Everett is the primary ball-handler in his 2nd and final season at Oklahoma. Like last year, the 2nd half of the season is where Everett has shined the most, playing in the Big 12 which is a very competitive conference with plenty of NBA talent on almost every squad, particularly at the guard positions. His signature game and the tape that his agent will have to make the most copies of is Oklahomas home win over Texas in late January. Everett scored 25 points, grabbed 8 rebounds and dished out 7 assists while shooting 10-15 from the field.

OutlookDespite being a senior, Everett will be projected as an upside type player who will need to make strides in certain parts of his game before being able to contribute substantially at the NBA level. He shows sparks of developing into a dynamic point guard, but is still too inconsistent and not 100% aware or confident in his skills at this point to execute on a consistent basis. With that said, Everetts ceiling is high because of his unique size and skills as a pass-first 6-4 PG. The NBA loves big point guards and Everett has all the raw tools needed to succeed. His team will have to be patient with him and likely bring him along slowly until he gets his feet wet. Hes a likely 2nd round pick as of right now depending on how he performs in March and in private workouts and/or the Orlando pre-draft camp.

Another player who needed a good game in a high profile matchup for both his teams sake as well as his own personal draft stock is Oklahoma point guard Terrell Everett. The senior Everett has been suffering from a very up and down season so far, struggling with his decision making at times, being erratic with his shot selection, turnovers and leadership from the point and seeing his confidence fluctuate dramatically, especially in his perimeter shot. Oklahoma will go as far as their 6-4 playmaker will take them this year, and when Everett played poorly, the entire team lost its rhythm, resulting in a couple of losses that most Sooner fans would not have anticipated heading into the season.

Against the top team in the Big 12 and one of the best teams in the country overall in Texas that all changed, though, as Everett was the best player on the floor for many key stretches in the game and was terrific on both ends of the floor leading his team to a huge victory in front of 22 NBA scouts on primetime television.

Defensively he did a terrific job on Daniel Gibson, keeping him out of the lane almost the entire game, forcing him into many tough shots with his size and length and winning the marquee matchup handily outside of the points Gibson managed to rack up in garbage time.

Offensively, Everett did a good job controlling the tempo and running his team patiently and unselfishly, getting into the lane repeatedly using his great first step and finding the open man on the drive and dish time after time. He looked smooth and extremely confident, making the right decisions and showing terrific upside as a big, long, athletic point guard. Unlike his Texas counterpoints on the other end of the floor, Everett showed the ability to get his big men involved whether with a simple fundamental post-entry lob or bounce pass or even being a little more spectacular with some awesome alleyoop heaves from well beyond the three point line to a soaring Taj Gray. Despite appearing to force his shot from the perimeter a bit in the 1st half, Everett still knocked down a couple of three pointers and was even more impressive hitting tough shots off the dribble from mid-range.

All in all this was a terrific display of potential from the quiet lefty point guard, but even more important beyond his upside as a tall NBA point guard will be the way he follows up this performance for the rest of the season. Everett has been too erratic for a senior playing such an important position for his team, averaging over 4 turnovers per game and shooting just 40% from the field and 29% from behind the arc. OU will need him in similar form to be able to live up to their extremely high potential and make a run at the final four. They have the talent to do so and then some, but will need Everett at his absolute best.